Community Fundraising is a great excuse for getting together with your friends and family to raise money for a worthwhile cause.

By raising money for people with cerebral palsy you will be helping individuals and families across the country.

If you have never fund raised before it can look like an overwhelming task. Here is a guide to help ensure you make your activity/event a success.

Where do you begin?

Before you start, think about how much money you can raise. You should set a realistic fundraising goal. Don’t set yourself up to fail; set a target that you think you can reach. It does not matter if you raise £10.00 or £10,000.00. Every penny counts!

You should then think about who will be your sponsors. Look towards friends, family, your employer, work colleagues and local community. Think about how they could sponsor or donate to you and the amount that could be raised from each group.

How should you fundraise?

This is the time to get creative, put your heads together and brainstorm. You can try something new, one of a kind activities/events that attract a lot of attention or you can go with tried and tested activity/events, which you know will be successful.

Why not try online fundraising? It is fast, easy for you and your donor’s to use and takes most of the stress out of fundraising. Take a look at www.justgiving.com for more details.

Whatever you do make it your own. Your sponsors will not only be supporting an individual/family – they will be supporting you as well.

Here are some ideas for inspiration:

Coffee morning

Head shave

Car boot sale

Sporting event

Quiz night

Promotion

The more you promote your event, the more chance you have of achieving your fundraising goal.

Think about your target sponsor groups and the best way to reach them. There are endless ways to promote your activity/event from flyers, posters, to word of mouth, Facebook and Twitter.

Last, but not least

Don’t forget to thank everyone who supported you. You will probably find most of your supporters will be keen to hear how much money was raised.

Author

Chris Gresswell-Green is a volunteer committee member for the Lincolnshire Cerebral Palsy Society and a specialist cerebral palsy lawyer at Bridge McFarland Solicitors.